So you linc you can dance?
by Tallyman18
Summary: Lucy Loud wants to learn how to dance for an upcoming event, Luckily Lincoln decides to take it upon himself to teach her some of what he knows about dancing through a rhythm game he's practiced at, but as Lincoln's dancing gains him more popularity Lucy has to wonder, if dancing can bring them together, can it not also tear them apart?
1. Chapter 1

Lincoln sighed heavily as a crash resounded down the hall of the Loud House, he really should have expected it, every time he'd managed to get undressed, pull out his comic and comfortable, without fail, something would manage to interrupt him. He'd almost be impressed if it wasn't so frustrating.

He half considered ignoring it and continuing with his comic, he'd been wanting to get through this particular run of "The Executioner" for a while now, and it wasn't like a crash wasn't a common occurrence in the Loud house.

But of all the things Lincoln Loud was, lazy, self assured, a mamma's boy, Lincoln Loud was first and foremost a loyal brother, and if any of his younger sisters, Lucy, the twins, Lisa or heaven forbid Lily had gotten themselves hurt he'd be damned if he'd find himself doing nothing about it.

Sighing loudly and placing Issue thirteen of Rumlow Warwick's "Welcome back Hank" miniseries in it's special designated comic books sleeve, Lincoln got up to go see what was the matter, swiftly opening his cabinet and pulling out a large blue fuzzy bathrobe.

After Lola's complaint about him reading comics in his undergarments and the subsequent contest, Lincoln decided it might be worth having something more modest to cover up with when reading comic, so after a bit of shopping he'd managed to find a bathrobe from a second hand clothing shop to preserve his modesty somewhat when enjoying his comics, in this case it would suffice well enough in lieu of getting completely dressed.

"Someone better be dying out there."

He grumbled tersely, lurching through the doorway to check up on the usual suspects.

First up was Lana and Lola, His prissiest and "Earthliest" Sister, respectively. Considering how commons scuffles were between the two it was a good idea to check on them before anyone else.

Leaning next to the door and cupping his hand over his mouth to direct his voice he called out to his two younger sisters.

"Lana, Lola, you two alright?"

"We're Fine Lincoln."

They hastily replied in stereo.

Lincoln, not quite willing to take their word for it merely raised his eyebrow and listened in, catching a few random snippets of the pair's random chit-chat.

"Now if there'll be no further interruption, Madam Butterbiscuit you simply must tell me about this dashing new philanthropist you've been seen with, oh don't try to deny it I've been hearing it all around the Toybox."

"Alright Hops, just a few more runs through the obstacle course and you'll be ready for the royal woods annual amphibian derby, Let's go for the gold boy!"

Lana's statement was immediately punctuated by the sound of a bunch of small, meticulously arranged objects being bowled over, and what Lincoln could only describe as a "Defeated" croak.

Decently satisfied, the middle child of the Loud house simply shrugged and made his way over to Lisa and Lily's bedroom.

Lisa was another big contributor to the Loud house's titular volume. Day in and Day out the toddler could always be found putting in countless hours developing something, likely dangerous and explosive, in her lab.

Of course, Lincoln knew his little genius sister wasn't irresponsible, usually she did try and take the proper safety precautions when dealing with dangerous chemicals or machinery in her room.

However, whenever accidents did occur they were usually bombastic and considering Lisa shared a room with Lily, his literal baby sister, he would be wise not to take any chances.

Slowly the door creaked open as Lincoln peeked in, expecting to see Lisa hunched over large amounts of chemical and electrical equipment.

Instead he simply saw her standing in front of a chalkboard, casually pondering over a few scattered numbers that Lincoln couldn't comprehend, occasionally jotting something down.

Casting his gaze over to Lily he saw her, no worse for wear, simply chewing on her teething ring, and cooing lightly to herself.

"Lisa? you alright in here? I heard a crash."

"Your concern, though well meaning, isth misplaced dear sibling. I am in no danger, asth today I am simply preparing a few theoretical mathmatics for my laste-"

Alright, so Lisa and Lily were fine, Lincoln thought as he quietly exited the room, unbeknownst to Lisa who continued her long-winded explanation.

Lincoln tapped his chin in contemplation, with most of his older sisters gone to go see "Fry Hard Five: A good day to Fry Hard" (Aside from Lori of course who was getting ready for work) he couldn't really think of anyone else who could've made the noise.

"Maybe it was just the pipes."

As if in direct defiance of his assumption, another crash came from down the hall from Lynn and Lucy's room.

That was right, Lucy.

"Lucy, I always forget about Lucy!"

Lincoln cried out loudly as he slapped his forehead in exasperation. Quickly making for the door.

As he entered the room, Lincoln found himself surprised by how much space there was, all of Lynn's equipment and Lucy's paraphernalia seemed to have been cleared away, living a large section of empty floor which Lucy was currently lying down on clutching her knee.

"Ow, my knee."

Lucy said apathetically.

Lincoln paused briefly, wondering if that was a cry for help or simply a flat statement. Regardless he rushed over to Lucy to take a look at her Leg, lightly rolling down her striped stocking to get a good look at her knee.

A quick cursory glance revealed a light purplish bruise, plainly set against the rest of his little sisters chalky pale skin.

"Doesn't look too bad Luce' I think you'll be alright."

Lucy simply stared at him expectantly.

Sighing and rolling his eyes Lincoln leaned over and gave a small peck on her bruised Knee.

"There, all better."

This prompted a smile from the normally somber poet.

"Thanks Lincoln."

Lincoln merely continued rolling his eyes, though he couldn't help but return her soft smile. He thought about telling Lucy she's too old for him to kiss her boo-boos, but that'd probably be a bit hypocritical coming from him, and truth be told he would probably miss that kind of thing whenever his little sisters did end up growing past it.

However, while basking in the glow of another big brotherly job well done, Lincoln noticed what looked to be a light purple book with bright yellow text on it, haphazardly set out on Lucy's bed.

"What's thi-"

Almost as soon as the words left his lips, lucy zipped over and swiped the book, and, in a hustle that Lincoln had to admit made him more than a little proud, put it behind her back, dropped it, and lightly kicked it under the bed before revealing her now empty hands.

"Book? What book?"

Lincoln simply crossed his arms and raised a dubious eyebrow.

"Must have just been my imagination."

The elder brother stated dryly. Shaking his head he put on his "big brother" voice and went over to sit with with Lucy on the bed.

"Y'know, you don't have to lie to me, you know better than anyone I can keep a secret."

"Sigh...I guess you have a point."

She stated, remembering the "princess pony" incident.

Kneeling down, she rummaged underneath her bed, quickly pulling out the book, which Lincoln could now clearly see said "Dance moves for dunces."

"The poetry cafe I hang out at is hosting a dance. I wanted to ask Rocky to it, so I've been trying to learn how to dance."

The white haired boy simply smiled and patted Lucy on the shoulder.

"Y'know Rocky probably won't care if you don't know how to-"

"I care!"

The goth interrupted loudly, causing Lincoln to jump in surprise. Granted Lucy startling him was nothing new, but he wasn't used to her having an outburst like this.

Almost immediately she seemed regretful, quickly casting her head downwards to avoid her big brothers gaze.

"I'd...I'd just like it if I could really get it right, maybe that way I could get to be the center of attention for once."

She mumbled, her crestfallen tone hitting Lincoln like a sack full of bodybuilding bricks. He could definitely see what she was getting at, especially since he'd all but forgotten about her earlier.

"Well, how's it panning out for you?"

Sighing, or at least tiredly uttering the word "Sigh" again, Lucy stepped forward and stood up.

Getting into a shaky wide stance, Lucy swung her arms, and attempted to do what Lincoln guessed was supposed to be shimmy, though it lacked any sort of direction almost looking like a series of rhythmic squats.

At one point in mid-squat she'd attempted to step one of her legs back and quickly kick off for a spin, Unfortunately she merely managed to lose her balance and started falling backwards, letting out a yell that could only be described as "Monotone".

Luckily, Lincoln figured her stance might falter,and was ready and moved to catch her before she felt to the ground.

Surprised she hasn't felt the sharp sting of the ground once again, Lucy looked up to see her brother, giving his usual confident smile down at her.

"Love that ambition spooky, but you're missing a few steps to bring it all together."

"How do you know exactly?"

At this, Lincoln's grin quickly shifted from "Confident" to "Smug" as he explained in a somewhat self-assured voice.

"Oh, well y'know rocking out with Luna, playing dance games, raw talent, that sorta thing."

Lucy merely grumbled something inaudible. He was fairly certain he heard the words "Smug" in there, but he was willing to ignore it.

"Look, if you don't mind it taking up a few days, I wouldn't mind helping you learn."

"Well, I guess I can take some time out of staring into the abyss, what did you have in mind?"

Reaching into his pocket, Lincoln pulled out a small wad of coupons with the name "Gus's games and grub" printed on them.

"How about I tell you on the way?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors notes: So commentary wasn't present in the last one but I think id like to throw some in this time. I have to admit I feel a lot less sure about this one than I was with the other one.**

 **Not quite sure why but some criticism and thoughts would really help me figure it all out.**

 **Also since I forgot to put it last time, I do not own Loud House, or any associated settings, characters or the like.**

 **...**

Lucy cringed slightly as the wall of pixelated sounds and yells assaulted her upon entering the pizzeria.

It surprised her somewhat that the noise even really affected her considering she grew up in the LOUD house, but she supposed it would be too much to ask to have grown some tolerance.

"So, you think this game of yours will help me learn how to dance?"

"Well, with any luck it'll help you work on some basic footwork, once you've got that down we can use it as a starting point for some of the fancier stuff."

Lincoln explained as he paid for their food and tokens. Lucy nodded plainly, still not quite sure if she was enthusiastic or cautious towards the idea, but willing to trust her older brother regardless, knowing he'd not steered her wrong yet.

After everything was paid up, the two made their way past the tables towards the arcade sections set in the back of the resterant.

All the activity buzzing around the tables, children running to and fro all the games, and parents and older siblings giving chase did put Lucy slightly on edge. Despite her appearance the tiny goth girl was by no means anti-social, but she was still somewhat shy and didn't take to well to strangers or big crowds.

Unfortunately for her fate had chosen fit to thrust human contact upon her in the form of a pigtailed little girl wearing a standard pink conical birthday hat bumping into her.

"oops Sorry lady!"

The girl apologized, putting her hands behind her back in an almost exaggerated display of youthful innocence and cuteness.

Lucy having accidentally gotten some of her long dark hair in her mouth simply started brushing her hair away from her face before replying.

"It's fine, i've taken worse today already."

Unfortunately Lucy hadn't realized that she'd moved away some of the hair in front of her right eye, leaving her single dark-lined eye leering through her ebony locks like the villain in a Japanese horror movie.

Her frightening appearance, combined with her raspy monotone caused the little girl to tremble and whimper slightly, her eyes watering as this dark figure loomed over her.

Before Lucy could react Lincoln quickly moved in front of Lucy, leaning down towards the frightened girl and giving his best smile as he asked if she'd just come from a party and more or less distracting her as best he could.

The young poet simply cast her gaze down sadly, letting her long bangs cover her eye once again as she backed away into the shadows, briefly she thought about apologizing for scaring the youngster, but she knew Lincoln would handle it better than she ever could, he was better with people, even weirdos like her.

After setting the young party-goer back on her way, the two arrived at the Dance Battle machines. Both machines sat side by side, their brightly tiled floors offering an open challenge to the siblings, the various squares flashing spastically with bright and garish colors.

"Players step it up!"

The machine demanded in a cheery and bombastic voice, as if amused by their defiance in trying to actually play it.

The little goth felt her resolve shudder slightly, but she remained stalwart in staring down the seizure-inducing lights and eardrum destroying audio.

She wasn't about to spend another dance sitting in the corner and being ignored.

"Alright Lucy, I'll pay for a song and we'll practice on it for a couple goes."

Lincoln said, stepping up to the coin slot and putting a few tokens in.

"Player one select your song!"

Lucy stepped up and looked over the screen, which displayed a number of album covers and instructed for her to move between them by stomping on the designated pad.

"Sigh...No death metal"

She lamented dryly.

Flipping through the various pop, contemporary and odd swing jazz number, she eventually settled on a simple techno dance number composed specifically for the game.

She doubted the poetry club would have any kind of song like this playing at any point, but she figured she be best off starting with whatever the game intended.

The beat started up, quickly she looked to Lincoln for instruction hoping for some direction before the game fully picked up.

"Keep your back straight Lucy, Slouching will only hurt you in the long run"

Lincoln said, placing a firm hand on his little sisters back to adjust her posture.

"Center your footing, fan your toes, that'll help you keep balance."

"There is no balance we are all simply tumbling around in the chao-"

"PLAYER ONE GET READY TO DANCE BATTLE!"

Interrupted the machine, startling the goth and prompting her to look at the screen.

Dozens of white arrows started floating through the screen, moving closer and closer to the black interaction bar, far too much for her to keep track of on her own.

"Down"

Lincoln shouted from behind.

Scrambling for a bit she eventually managed to find and stomp on the bottom floor panel. She was rewarded for her efforts with a loud "POOR" from the smug machine.

She grumbled angrily, she would see this hateful machine burn in the fire-pits of the underworld one day, that much was certain.

Meanwhile Lincoln continued giving her more pieces of advice, such as not using too much force to stomp or keeping her arms to her sides and not using up too much energy on complicated hand movements , and as she practiced, eventually "Poors" changed to "Goods" and even the occasional "Great".

With each and every bit of praise the announcer gave her she felt a slight smile start to tug at the edges of her mouth, She was getting it finally.

Unfortunately the machine seemed to pick up on her new found confidence, and took steps to crush it utterly, immediately picking up its pace and sending a flurry of much faster prompts across the screen.

"MISS!"

The machine reprimanded harshly, in a tone not dissimilar to one of Lucy's more despised teachers.

Panicking, Lucy attempted to correct herself, tragically fumbling for prompts that were already far too close for her to react to, causing the miss counters to pile up and her score to go spiraling downward rapidly.

"LOSER!"

The game declared harshly, causing the diminutive goth to flinch, thankfully her brother was there to give her a supportive pat on the shoulder.

"Don't sweat it spooky, you were doing great, way better than I did on my first go."

"I don't feel like I'm learning anything about dancing."

Lincoln raised his finger as if he was about to respond, before someone called out from the kitchen.

"Number fifty-six your order is ready"

"Oh that's us, Uh, here's a few extra tokens, keep trying. I'll get our food and a table and after that we can take a lunch break."

He said handing her a handful of tokens hastily.

Lucy sighed and nodded, she would have normally admonished him for thinking with his stomach when she needed support, but he was doing his best to help and to be honest she was more than a little hungry herself.

Resisting the temptation to ignore her brothers instructions and simply avoid the hateful, gaudy machine she inserted another coin and practiced on another song.

This time her footing came a bit slower, with a few misses occuring early on, however much like life in general, she did find it much easier to correct herself and keep a stable pace after accepting failure.

By the end Lucy had managed to get three "Greats" in a row, a new record for her, not that that was a particularly amazing accomplishment but she took what she could get.

"Geez Ghoulie is the rigor mortis setting in or are you just naturally this talentless?"

Lucy whipped her head around to see a boy, looking to be in his early preteens, blonde, wearing an outfit similar to her older brother's, save for a white beanie.

Shaking her head she turned back to her game and ignore him, Unfortunately a quick glance to the side confirmed that he had taken up the Dance Battle machine next to her.

Even worse was the fact that HIS efforts were being rewarded to a chorus of "Great" and "PERFECT" from the machine, and even with her limited experience, she could tell he was already making use of a far greater range of moves than she had.

Where Lucy would have had to find and clumsily stomp on a lit-up square, The blonde newcomer simply shifted and slid from one point to the other losing almost no momentum in his strut and flawlessly anticipating every queue before it occurred.

Despite her best efforts, the minuscule goth couldn't help but gawk at the boy's obvious skill, pure envy seeping from her every pore.

"Impressive eh?"

The beanie-wearing boy said smugly.

Lucy merely grumbled in response.

Unfortunately he only took it as an invitation to continue talking, much to her dismay.

"I could teach you a few moves, but it'll cost you."

"I've already got someone teaching me."

"Well they did a pretty sucky job if you ask me."

Lucy glared from behind her long bangs. Why was this guy even talking to her? She'd been used to people bullying and making fun of her, it was a price she had to pay for bearing her black soul out in the open for everyone to see.

But that hardly seemed to be the main motivator for this arrogant brat, if anything it just seemed like he'd be doing this to anyone who was playing at the cabinet next to him.

Maybe she could ask Lincoln if there was another machine they could practice at, one with a lower number of obnoxious preteens in eerily familiar attire.

"Say Luce, you like dressing on your salads right?"

As if summoned forth by Lucy's train of thought, Lincoln arrived, His signature smile nearly hidden behind a tray of pizza and various bowls and cups balanced on his arms.

His smile instantly faded as he saw the figure next to Lucy, a very uncharacteristic glare coming across his features as his gaze met with the other boy.

"Oh, it's you...I should have guessed this day was going too well."

Lincoln lamented, shaking his head dispassionately.

"Is this the guy? Oh man no wonder you're so awful, you're being taught by Stinken' Loud."

The white-hatted ner-do-well said obnoxiously, giving a mean-spirited chuckle that made Lucy's fists ball up reflexively.

Luckily Lincoln was quick to give his own reply, preventing Lucy from doing or saying something she might regret.

"Now careful Franklin, you don't want your mom to have to drag you out again...do you?"

An angry snarl from the blonde indicated his comment had hit its mark.

Lucy ignored the boys apparent rage and turned to her brother curiously.

"You know this guy Lincoln?"

"Unfortunately yes, he's half the reason I couldn't get my cereal last time I went to the grocery store."

He wisely decided not to mention that she and the rest of his sisters were the other half.

"Whatever, just tell Elvira over there to slither off and find another spot to flail around at, she's bringing down the place with her...everything."

Lucy growled slight, she wanted to be angry, she wanted to shout and punch and kick and claw at this jerk who was making fun of her and her brother.

But she knew that wasn't going to get her anywhere, even if she weren't so much smaller than him, starting a fight would probably only get her and her brother kicked out and she didn't want her brother to be kicked out and possibly banned from his favorite arcade and pizza restaurant.

With a resigned sigh, Lucy tried to attempted to step off the dance pad and walk away. before being suddenly stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder.

Turning to see who it was, she saw her brother, defiantly glaring down the would-be bully.

"Better idea, how about you take your bratty butt out of here instead?"

"And how exactly do you plan to make me do that?"

Franklin asked smugly.

Lincoln turned to Lucy and gave her his most confident, endearing smile.

His tired, but oddly bright eyes conveyed the message clearly.

Stand back sis, your big brother's got this

The younger Loud quickly confirmed her understanding with a nod, quietly grabbing the food and shuffling off to a nearby booth where she could still see both of the Dance Battle machines.

The other boy raised a curious eyebrow as Lincoln stepped up to the now-abandoned dance pad beside him, he seemed to get the idea, though he didn't give any direct visual confirmation.

Squaring off the two gave each other one final stare-down before simultaneously pulling out a token and inserting it into the coin slot.

Grasping for a the crispiest looking piece of pizza, Lucy observed both machines with rapt attention as her big brother faced off against the bully.

"Any rules you wanna set, Stinken?"

"Winner stays, Loser walks...Simple as that."

"TWO PLAYER DANCE OFF!"

And with the machines bombastic announcement, both the game was set and both kids readied themselves.

Even before the prompts started showing up on screen Lincoln was in motion, his shoulders and hips both bobbing to the beat as he flashed his opponent a cocky buck-toothed smile.

The first three moves were set to the downward pad, the arrows ominously floating downward like a bomb descending towards a hapless city.

Franklin gave a heavy stomp to the downward pad for each prompt, each one landing in perfect sync and earning a "Perfect" and giving a confident headbob in celebration.

Lincoln on the other hand simply shifted his leg behind with a slight twist of his hips, lifting his heel slightly over the pad before lightly tapping it down, dipping slightly with each tap before holding his arms out dramatically finishing the whole routine off by kicking into a spin and posing.

Meanwhile at the table, Lucy's eyes widened behind her raven-locks, she'd figured Lincoln was good at dancing, he likely wouldn't have offered to teach her if he didn't have some skill in the subject matter.

But it was a far different thing to actually see her, admittedly often dorky big brother, suddenly displaying confidence and grace she'd never seen in him before. A feeling of shame wormed its way into her head as she watched, her mind wandering back to her own far less-than-impressive attempts.

Franklin growled in irritation, clearly upset at Lincoln not only matching him but showing off while doing so. He responded in kind, hitting his the next three moves with a showy shuffle from left to right, bopping his shoulders to the beat as he did so.

"Whoa, lookit em go"

Came a young female voice from one of the tables, startling Lucy.

As she looked over she did indeed see a small group of kids, also preteens, gawking at the dance battle as it went down, a few of them chatting amongst themselves.

"I betcha five tokens the Blonde one is gonna win."

"Think I've seen one of them around here before."

"Wonder who that cute white-haired boy is.."

One of the girls in the crowd asked dreamily as her gaze shifted uncomfortably close to Lincolns hips.

Lucy resisted the urge to vomit, the thought of someone gawking at her brother like that made her stomach churn like the restless dead.

So this is what true horror feels like.

She thought, grabbing herself a sugar-frosted mini-brownie from one of the various boxes and nibbling at it as a distraction from the horrible mental images .

One thing she noticed was that, as far as score went the two were neck and neck, with Lincoln merely edging out a slight lead on Franklin points-wise.

However one look at the competitors themselves and it was clear who the victor was going to be as the blonde sweated and breathed heavily under the exhaustion, his shuffles and steps starting to get slower and more sloppy as he continued exerting his energy attempting flashy moves.

Lincoln on the other hand seemed far more energetic, His practice with the moves as well as the chaos of living with ten sister affording him some degree of endurance.

Sensing weakness in his opponent Lincoln pulled out his best "Running Man", sliding in step with every beat, making perfectly sure not to linger on a tile for too long and risk missing a prompt, before ending on another perfect spin and pose, just like with his opening moves.

Attempting to replicate the maneuver the bratty beanie-sporting child subsequently tripped over his own feet and, after still attempting a spin despite his trip up, subsequently fell to the tiled floor, defeated.

"YOU'RE WINNER!"

The, poorly localized, game proclaimed proudly.

A happy girlish shriek assaulted Lucy's ear from the table next to her, as apparently the group that had been observing had begun celebrating, only to be cut short as Franklin got up from his fall and angrily pushed past them.

Giving a showy bow and sending a wink in the direction of his new admirers, much to Lucy's mortification, Lincoln made his way back to their table and sat across from her.

"So, whaddya think?"

Lincoln asked innocently, sweating and panting a little bit, not quite exhausted but clearly having had a much more strenuous workout than he was used to.

And there was the million dollar question posed to the young goth girl, what did she think? She was certainly proud of her brother, while she'd always looked up to him she'd never known he could display this kind of talent.

On the other hand, it was somewhat daunting knowing she was so far behind him, A part of her wondered if she might have just been wasting his time.

"You're really impressive, I guess I've got a long way to go, don't I?"

Lincoln shrugged.

"Well, gee, I know it's hard spending time with your dorky big brother bu-"

"No!"

Lucy yelled, giving Lincoln a sudden start and causing him to drop one of the garlic knots he was attempting to eat.

"I don't think you're dorky."

She continued, only to be met with a skeptical raised eyebrow from her white haired sibling.

"...well okay, yeah I do...but that's not it."

She amended quickly.

"I just don't want to waste your time, I mean I probably won't be ready in time to go to the dance."

She lamented, turning her head away.

Lincoln gave his sister a sympathetic look, lightly patting her on the head, like he always had whenever he was trying to comfort her ever since she was a baby.

"Luce, a waste of time would be sitting around reading a comic i've reread fifty-million times front to back or playing a game i've gotten fifty perfect runs and platinum metals on again. I offered to do this, and I'd offer again, because I believe you can do it."

The elder loud gave his usual tired smile after his speech, hoping it would drive home the sincerity of his words.

Luckily she recuperated with her own, still somewhat reserved, smile.

"Thanks, Lincoln."

That earned a uncharacteristic scoff from Lincoln, the earlier mood stricken away as he slid comfortably into his "Coaching" role.

"Don't thank me yet, we've still got to work on your stance and footwork, then after that it'll be basic moves and steps, then onto the advanced stuff like coordinating arm movements with leg movements accounting for space, dancing with partners. Believe me spooky, you won't be thanking me after all this is over. ."

Lucy gulped, a chill creeping over her spine as her normally even-tempered and somewhat lazy brother had suddenly been replaced by an imposing dance-based-drill sergeant.

"...But before that, how about we eat?"

He said,suddenly shifting back to being the goofy, laid-back brother she was used to,as he casually for a small cardboard box.

"Normally I wouldn't start with a brownie, but it's so long since I've gotten a taste of choco-"

As he spoke, his eyes widened, tentatively, he picked up the box and shook it out onto his plate, only to be rewarded with a smattering of crumbs.

He looked up to Lucy, who could only offer a chocolate stained smile in response.

"Well, guess who just earned herself another three Dance Battle sessions on "Impossible" difficulty?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi there, so authors note, this one took a long time, and to be honest I'm still afraid I rushed through it. This will likely be one of the chapters where I need constructive criticism the most.**

 **Also as always I don't own the Loud house.**

 _..._

 _The dark Countess Lucy felt listless as the moonlit scenery outside the carriage window flew by, her thoughts wandering to her dark prince, would he remember their time together? was he also thinking of her during his own journeys? she pondered over the answer somberly, the anticipation pulling at her blackened heart all the more._

 _Suddenly the carriage lurched forward, signaling their stop, With a resigned sigh she lifted up her long black dress and made her way out of the carriage._

 _Even outside of the ballroom proper, she could see countless fellow nobles of the night mingling and socializing, their fanged smiles concealing the bitterness in their souls, a bitterness she knew all to well._

 _But she wasn't here for them, she was here for him, her paramour. Making her way through she arrived at the ballroom, it's dark interior lit by scores of red candles and one giant opulent chandelier hanging at the center of the room._

 _Dozens of vampires, ghosts and ghouls of all nature waltzed across the ballroom, staring at each other with predatory intensity._

 _It was amoungst these creatures that the countess saw the object of her affections, the prince Spokes, his messy red hair and more colorful skin tone contrasting clearly to all the deathly pale brunettes littering the room._

 _Unfortunatly it seemed like he was also the center of attention for a number of other girls,all ravishing in their own dark way, all shamelessly huddled around him, each one asking him to dance and pulling him in a different direction._

 _She felt taken aback by the crowd gathered around the object of her affection, Many of them were at the top of the undead aristocracy._

 _The dark Countess hung her head in shame and sighed loudly, resigning herself to spending another night alone in the corner, pining._

 _Suddenly, the young Countess felt a warm hand on her shoulder, turning around she came face to face with her elder brother, the loyal Sir Lincoln of house Loud, leveling a kindly smile at her._

 _His bright orange and blue garb clashed heavily with the rest of the somber and dimly lit environment, giving him an almost otherworldly look amongst the rest of the crowd, His eyes however, conveyed a very familiar message._

 _Stand back sis, your big brother's got this_

 _Then, without a word, he took Lucy's hand moved towards the prince and his entourage, the crowd parting before his confident stride, every head turned towards this strange, out-of-place gentleman walking amongst them._

 _"Excuse me, I believe I've found you a worthy dance partner."_

 _He declared as he gently lead his dark sister towards the prince, allowing their eyes to meet for the first time, or more accurately he simply stared at the spot where he assumed her eyes would be behind her hair._

 _Meanwhile the young princes admirers were now near instantly crowding around Sir Loud, each of them stepping over each other to sink their fangs into the flashy newcomer._

 _The countess paid them little mind, even thinking about her brother being fawned over by a gaggle of night creatures couldn't ruin her mood now that she was with her prince at last._

 _"Lucy.."_

 _"Yes beloved?"_

"...Up and attem Luce!"

With a start Lucy awoke jumped out of her bed. After taking a moment to regain her composure she looked over to her Roommate Lynn, who was currently staring at her expectantly.

"C'mon Gloomy, We've gotta get to school."

Her older sister shouted, practically dragging her out the door, all the while the diminutive goth was barely awake, adjusting slightly to nearly being dragged out of her dream.

Soreness immediately flooded into her body at the mere thought of getting out of bed. She'd remembered last night and guessed her extended dance practice session had plenty to do with it.

Lincoln did his best to run through the steps at a pace she could handle, but it was still exhausting for her to keep up with him.

"Why the rush Lynn? You've never been in this much of a hurry before."

"Yeah well your usually up way earlier than this."

Not quite following what her sporty sister was saying she looked over to a nearby clock, which indeed read 9:45 which didn't leave her very much time to get ready for school.

Realizing this she let out a gasp and rushed out the door to try and take a quick shower, ignoring her sore joints and limbs as she hurried to get to the bathroom before Lynn.

"Hey wait, I call dibs on the shower next!"

...

Getting ready for the ride to school had been a chore thanks to her grogginess and aching limbs, thankfully Lynn was ready to cover for her and managed to lay out some clean clothing for her after her for after her shower, which she greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, it was clearly from the impatient glare she received from Lori once she finally convened with the rest of the family that she'd still been noticeably late. Her other siblings simply staring expectantly, minus Lincoln who's expression seem to mix guilt and worry in equal measure.

"C'mon Lucy, we've been waiting her for literally forever."

The younger Loud recoiled at this, unaccustomed to being the target of her eldest sisters ire.

"Sorry Lori."

Lori's expression seemed to soften after seeing Lucy's reaction, giving her response in a slightly less terse manner.

"It's fine Lucy, Just try not to make a habit of it okay?"

The young goth simply nodded in response, and with that Lori moved on out the door, apparently satisfied with this resolution.

Her other siblings similarly continued on, some of them casting her sympathetic glances. Before Leaving Lincoln stopped and coughed uncomfortably, casting his gaze away.

"Sorry, I went a little overboard with the whole dance practice thing."

He stated apologetically.

"It' okay, you were just trying to help."

Lucy replied.

"Well, either way how about we wait till tomorrow to give it another go, that way you'll have some time to rest up."

She thought about saying she was fine, but the weariness of her legs and arms earned from countless hours spent learning differing steps, spins, and poses provided a compelling argument against it.

So she merely nodded to her elder brother and walked off to join the rest of her siblings in Vanzilla.

...

The ride had been mostly uneventful, mostly Luan bouncing a few jokes off of various sisters to gauge their reactions, most of which were poor.

Luckily after only a few assorted knock knock jokes and anecdotal stories about the kool-aid-man, they arrived at the school.

Various cliques of students congregated around the front schoolyard, mostly sticking closely to their own groups with a few outlying exceptions scattered about.

Among them was an older girl, about preteen, with long chocolate brown hair that was held back with a pink heart shaped clip, and a purple jacket over a lavender dress.

She'd been chatting up an un-enthused young goth girl, who silently pointed a black nailed finger toward Lucy.

Lucy felt her blood run cold, it was very rare that she was the subject of any attention, on the rare occasions she did receive it it was usually in a negative light.

As the preppy, chocolate-locked girl approached, she considered retreating to her class or finding one of her older siblings.

"Hey there, you got a minute?"

Surprised, the goth girl took a moment to scan her surrounds, before pointing to herself.

"Yeah, Lucy right? I saw you at Gus's games and grub."

Lucy simply slumped and nodded in response.

"Sigh, Yeah...I take it you're hear to remind me I can't dance?"

The newcomer simply smiled and shrugged.

"I dunno, you seemed to do pretty good, better than me the first time I tried."

Lucy couldn't help but crack a shy smile in return, true that was a somewhat cliche compliment, but it was a compliment none the less, which was rare to hear from somewhere besides her family or her circle of goth friends.

"Thanks, that really means alot to me."

"Mhm...Right, your welcome"

The girl replied hastily, before reaching into a handbag and pulling out a smaller, plastic baggie filled with sugar cookies.

"So, remember you need anything just call for your good friend Cookie!"

She said with a wink, handing the baggie to the diminutive goth and walking away.

"Uhh...Alright then."

Was all Lucy could respond with, feeling a sudden mental whiplash overtake her as a number of questions popped up in her mind.

 _I guess we're friends now? How am I supposed to call her?...What kinda name is Cookie?_

Shaking her head she pulled a snickerdoodle from the bag and proceeded onward, confused but somewhat more confident after being complimented.

eventually she managed to catch up to her usual poetry group, Among them one of her best friends, Haiku.

"Lucy, it's wonderful to see you."

She droned out plainly. Her expression completely unreadable.

"You too Haiku."

Lucy replied in kind, pulling out another cookie and offering it to her friend, whom accepted it gladly (She assumed)

"You seem to be in a good mood this day, did you finally manage to translate one of the pages of the necromancers tome?"

"Sigh, I wish...no someone recognized me from Gus's, and was...impressed by my dancing."

The younger girl said, smiling slightly at the word "Impressed". Briefly she thought about how Rocky might be similarly wowed by her dancing.

Her friend meanwhile simply raised a curious eyebrow.

"I wasn't aware you danced recreationally."

Lucy nodded

"My brother offered to help me practice for the upcoming "Blackheart Ball"."

Immediately Haiku adopted a mischievous expression, one that Lucy recognized as an immediate indication that she'd made a mistake in mentioning her brother.

"Ah, yes, how is Lincoln? I haven't heard anything from him since that...Passionate night we spent together."

Lucy felt her stomach turn, Haiku still hadn't forgiven her for setting her up with her brother alongside the three other girls her other sisters picked, it probably wasn't helped that she'd used a bit of hyperbole' to sell her on the date.

As a result Haiku took a perverse pleasure in using that night as payback whenever Lincoln was brought up. Using her all-too impressive skill in the English language to squeeze every last bit of discomfort out of Lucy.

"I didn't mean for it to turn out like that.."

"I've no Idea what you mean dear Lucy, After all your brother was the "very model of gentlemanly charm" and "Silently burning with a passionate yearning for me he'd kindled from afar".

Lucy cringed as Haiku repeated her own words, the sarcasm clearly dripping through every syllable even through her monotone voice.

"Alright, Alright I get it, Last time I try and set you up with someone."

"Next time at least make sure they're aware of my existence beforehand."

The younger goth opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut it again after realizing her losing position in the argument.

"So, you said you were practicing your dance moves for the Blackheart ball?"

"Yeah, actually planning to ask Rocky Spokes to go with me."

"Rusty's brother, red hair, freckles?"

Lucy Nodded.

"You won't have to look far."

Haiku stated, pointing over her shoulder.

"Hey Lucy, Hey Haiku."

The diminutive goth was fairly certain she felt her heart stop for a moment. She recognized the voice behind her, rough, but oddly kind and calming.

Slowly she turned around, silently egging herself forward even as her breath hitched. Immediately she regretted it as he affixed her with an adorable look of both concern and confusion.

"You alright?"

He asked, clearly not realizing that the little goth was currently liquefying in his presence.

 _He's so...cute_

Lucy thought dreamily, unaware that she hadn't answered his question and left him even more concerned.

"...Uhh...Lucy?"

He asked, waving his hand in front of her face in an attempt to pull her out of her daze.

Haiku shook her head in annoyance before sharply jabbing her friend in the ribs with her elbow.

"..OW...uhh...Rocky,hi."

"...Hi."

Rocky repeated tentatively.

Meanwhile Lucy was trying her best to hold onto her newfound confidence, hoping desperately not to blow her chance to ask him out.

"Soo Rocko.."

Lucy said, attempting to lean back before realizing there was nothing to lean back on and hastily correcting her footing.

The redhead raised a curious eyebrow but said nothing.

Behind her she could hear Haiku's violent facepalming.

"..There's this dance coming up at a coffee shop I frequent."

"You're not old enough to drink coffee."

Rocky observed.

Rubbing the back of her head nervously Lucy tried her best to explain.

"It's more for the company, and they serve other stuff too. Anyways, it'd be pretty cool if you could.."

"Sure, I'll come."

The freckled boy interrupted politely, giving a slightly gap-toothed smile after finally recieving a more straightforward question.

A huge smile broke out on Lucy's face, fireworks going off on her head as her mind already raced with scenerio's playing out.

Music playing, a candlelit dance floor, the two of them twirling and spinning, getting lost in each others gazes as they prepared for the dark embrace of eternity toge-

"Lucy..."

Snapped out of her fantasy by someone calling her name, she turned towards her friend, curious as to what she wanted from her.

"He's already gone."

Haiku stated drearily the tiniest drop of exasperation managing to edge its way into her tone.

Turning around Lucy could indeed confirm that Rocky had left, Eliciting a sigh from her as she realized she'd spaced out and missed out on talking to him further.

But still, she did manage to win her coveted date with him, and that alone was enough to warm the black cockles of her heart.

"I can't believe it, he said yes!"

She finally blurted out, nearly shifting into a full swoon.

Her companion opted to saw nothing, simply rolling her eyes at her tiny friends transparent giddiness, but still cracking a light smile that belied at least some degree of pride in her.

"Truely the cards were in your favor, but if you don't mind, we should get to class before miss Burbanks takes attendance, lest we join the lost souls trapped here in detention."

Not waiting to see if Lucy was behind her the elder girl continued towards the school, mostly confident that her friend had the sense to follow along.

"Hmm? Oh...right, classes! right behind you."

The Loud girl replied with a start, the memories of Miss Burbanks previous vicious tirades snapping her out of her daydream, and prompting her to hurry after.


End file.
